Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Stats
Grant Enfinger will be making his first ever start at Mid-Ohio in any series this weekend.
NCWTS Road Course Stats (5 Tracks)
Combined Starts: 8, Best start: 8th, Best finish: 4th (COTA 2021) Top 5’s: 1, Top 10’s: 3, Laps led: 1
2022 NCWTS Season Stats
Starts: 14, Best start: 3rd, Best finish: 2nd (Charlotte), Top 5s: 3, Top 10s: 7, Laps led: 30, Current points position: 9th
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Chassis History/Info: Grant Enfinger will race GMS Racing chassis no. 138 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. This Silverado RST has been the No. 23 team’s road course workhorse this season, racing in events at Circuit Of The Americas, where it finished 10th, and Sonoma Raceway, where it finished 11th. Sheldon Creed drove this chassis to two top-five finishes in 2021, when it was originally built.
Crew Chief Change: Over the off weekend, GMS Racing officials announced that they would be making a crew chief change for the No. 23 truck. Jeff Hensley, a 35-year veteran of the sport, has rejoined the team to call the shots for Grant Enfinger for the remainder of the season. The duo have previous success from years past, earning a total of five wins during their tenure, including four wins and a Championship 4 appearance in 2020.
Playoffs Outlook: Heading into this weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio, Grant Enfinger remains above the playoffs cutline in ninth position. A late race crash in Nashville set the driver back a little ways, but Enfinger still has a 39 point gap to the final position with only two races left in the regular season. The No. 23 team is currently one spot out of the owners’ points playoffs in eleventh position.
Driver Appearances: Grant will be signing autographs along with several other NCWTS drivers on race day at Mid-Ohio near the Championship Row Super Pavilion area in the infield from 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM local time. Fans are encouraged to stop by, take a photo, and get some autographs before the race! – Grant Enfinger Quote: “Racing at Mid-Ohio will provide us drivers with some new challenges, as most of us have never even seen the place before. I expect whoever can adapt the fastest will have a great shot at performing on Saturday. We have been working hard at our road course program on the No. 23 team, so hopefully we will be able to capitalize on that. These next two races at the end of the regular season are crucial for us, so Jeff and I have our heads down and are ready to give it our all with our Champion Power Equipment team.” – Jeff Hensley Quote: “I’m excited to kick off and restart my relationship working with Grant and the GMS Racing team this weekend. Going into Mid-Ohio, we will have controlled pit stops, which will eliminate some of our traditional road course strategy opportunities, so we will be chasing after stage points to help build a cushion to that playoffs cutline. We look to have a strong Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet under us throughout the weekend so we can capitalize on gaining as many points as possible.”
Jack Wood, No. 24 ChevyLiners.com Chevrolet Silverado RST
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Stats
-Jack Wood will be making his first ever start at Mid-Ohio in any series this weekend.
NCWTS Road Course Stats (3 Tracks)
Combined Starts: 4, Best start: 27th, Best finish: 16th (Sonoma 2022), Laps led: 1
2022 NCWTS Season Stats
Starts: 14, Best start: 10th, Best finish: 13th (Atlanta), Current points position: 24th
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Chassis History/Info: Jack Wood will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 140 in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 150. The rookie has raced this chassis twice before, in events at Circuit Of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway, where he earned his best-career road course finish at last month. This Chevrolet was built for road course competition in 2021, and earned two top-10 finishes with Zane Smith at the wheel.
Double Duty Once Again: Wood will be able to get some additional seat time ahead of this weekend’s NCWTS race, as he is scheduled to compete in the ARCA Menards Series event on Friday. Bill McAnally Racing, who has an affiliation with GMS Racing in the Truck Series, will field the No. 21 entry for Jack in the Dawn 150. The ARCA race can be viewed live on FS1 or streamed on the FOX Sports App at 5:30 PM ET on July 8th.
Sunoco ROTY Update: A promising night at Nashville came to an abrupt stop early on for Jack Wood and the No. 24 team, setting them back in the chase for Sunoco Rookie Of The Year honors. Wood has since dropped to fourth place in the running order, but is only 20 points behind rookie leader Lawless Alan heading into Mid-Ohio. In the tight rookie battle, Jack trails third place by ten points, and second place by twelve.
Driver Appearances: Jack will be signing autographs along with several other NCWTS drivers on race day at Mid-Ohio near the Championship Row Super Pavilion area in the infield from 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM local time. Fans are encouraged to stop by, take a photo, and get some autographs before the race!
Jack Wood Quote: “I’m looking forward to getting the opportunity to race at a new venue in Mid-Ohio this weekend. Road courses have been some of my favorite tracks to drive on, and earlier in the year, I was able to test a TransAm TA2 car at the facility and really enjoyed it. Running a double duty schedule this weekend is going to be a challenge no doubt, but I believe that having some extra track time will be a huge benefit heading into Saturday. I’m hopeful that we will have a good run and turn our No. 24 team’s luck around.”
ABOUT GMS RACING:
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series operating the No. 23 and the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs, as well as the ARCA Menards Series with the No. 43 Chevrolet SS. Since the team was formed in 2012, GMS Racing has won five titles across multiple series, including the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, the 2015 ARCA Menards Series championship, as well as the 2019 & 2020 ARCA Menards Series East championships. GMS has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. including operations for GMS Fabrication. The GMS Racing campus also houses operations for Petty GMS, a two car full-time NASCAR Cup Series team formed in 2021.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
CHASE BRISCOE Atlanta Advance No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing
Event Overview
● Event: Atlanta 400 (Round 19 of 36) ● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 10 ● Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway ● Layout: 1.54-mile oval ● Laps/Miles: 260 laps/400 miles ● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 100 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps ● TV/Radio: USA / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is fresh off his ninth top-15 finish of the season after earning a 14th-place result last weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Briscoe started in the second position, narrowly missing out on his second pole of the season, and won the first stage of the 62-lap race.
● Briscoe is 16th in the driver standings with eight races remaining in the regular season. He currently holds a spot in the 16-driver playoff field by virtue of his March 13 win at Phoenix Raceway.
● When the Cup Series visited Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this year, the track had undergone an offseason reconfiguration to create tighter, superspeedway-type racing on its 1.54-mile oval. The racing surface was narrowed from 55 feet to 40 feet and the banking was increased to 28 degrees – the most of any intermediate track on the schedule.
● Briscoe started the race from the pole after qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather, and he led five of the first six laps, his first laps led at Atlanta. He went on to finish 15th, tying his career-best Atlanta finish in his third start there.
● Outside of the Cup Series, Briscoe also has three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Atlanta with a best finish of ninth in 2020, and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start there in 2017.
● All of the SHR cars travel from race to race in haulers from Rush Truck Centers, the premier service solutions provider to the commercial vehicle industry. And those haulers are supported by the RushCare team of parts and service experts, who also provide concierge-level service and maintenance, technical support, schedule mobile service, dispatch roadside assistance, help locate the nearest dealer, and more. Rush Truck Centers is the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in the United States with 139 locations, and takes pride in its integrated approach to customer needs – from vehicle sales to aftermarket parts, service and body shop operations, plus financing, insurance, leasing and rental, as well as alternate fuel systems and other vehicle technologies.
● Rush Truck Centers is also a leader in all-makes parts for the commercial vehicle industry, and has released its third All-Makes Parts Catalog. The catalog features 16,000 parts from more than 125 manufacturers, the most common parts needed for commercial vehicles. No matter what brand of truck you drive, you’ll find what you need in this catalog. It also is filled with product and technical tips to help keep you up and running. Contact a local Rush Truck Centers location to pick up a copy today.
● Indiana-based Cummins, from car owner Tony Stewart’s hometown of Columbus, is also along for the ride at Atlanta. Cummins is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. It is best known for its diesel truck engines. Since its founding in 1919, Cummins now employs approximately 61,600 people and serves customers in about 190 countries and territories through a network of some 8,000 wholly owned and independent dealer and distributor locations.
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You’ve now been to Atlanta with the new layout. You started on the pole and ran in the pack, so do you feel more prepared than when you were first there in March?
“I’m not sure. You might not be able to go back in your notebook as far as you’d like because it’s more of a superspeedway race now and there’s not a ton you can do from a car standpoint. Atlanta is one of the harder races now because it’s like a superspeedway race with a little bit of balance focus when it comes to setup. I feel like everyone is still kind of even now, but just having experience there will be big on the mental side. Mentally, that was the hardest race I’ve ever run. This race being 100 miles shorter should be better. But it’s still going to be way more intense than most of these other races we run. It’ll be interesting to see how that race plays out. We’re coming toward the end of the regular season. There’s an opportunity for a lot of guys to get their first win of the year there and Daytona, or for someone else to add another one and better secure their spot. So we’re all going to be up on the wheel and hopefully we can have a good day and help our position in playoffs.”
What changed with the reconfiguration to make is such a different race?
“Just the runs and how they come together. You go to Daytona or Talladega and it’s two and a half miles and it looks like things just happen so fast, but the runs develop slower on the bigger track. At Atlanta, you take a mile out of the racetrack and things really do happen that much faster. The momentum, the runs – your spotter can only talk so fast to let you know what’s coming.”
No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Team Roster
Primary Team Members
Driver: Chase Briscoe Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana
Crew Chief: John Klausmeier Hometown: Perry Hall, Maryland
Car Chief: J.D. Frey Hometown: Ferndale, California
Engineer: Mike Cook Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland
Engineer: Marc Hendricksen Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey
Daniel Dye, No. 43 Champion Container GMS Racing Chevrolet
Mid-Ohio Stats
- Daniel has no prior starts at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
2022 ARCA Menards Series Stats
Starts: 8
Top 5’s: 4
Top 10’s: 6
Poles: 1
Avg Finish: 7.5
Notes:
Daniel Dye will make his first career start at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Friday evening, in the Dawn 150. Dye will drive the GMS Racing No. 43 Champion Container, Heise LED, Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet.
Friday’s race will be Dye’s inaugural attempt on a race course with the national touring ARCA Menards Series.
DD competed in the ARCA Menards Series West event at Portland Intl. Raceway earlier this season, where he captured the General Tire Pole Award and finished fourth in adverse weather conditions. Dye has no other road-course starts of any kind.
The Dawn 150 can be seen on FS1 and the FOX Sports app Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET. Coverage will also be provided by the Motor Racing Network, on SiriusXM Satelite Radio, and through ARCAracing.com.
Behind-the-scenes updates and content will be posted to Daniel’s Twitter account on race day, @danieldye43.
Quote:
“I’m truly excited to get up to Mid-Ohio on Friday and see what that place is all about. Portland was so much fun and I feel like we’ll be able to translate some of what we learned there for Friday and when we go to Watkins Glen later this year. It’ll also be great to have the Champion Container colors on our GMS Chevy for the first time this season.”
ABOUT GMS RACING
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series operating the No. 23 and the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs, as well as the ARCA Menards Series with the No. 43 Chevrolet SS. Since the team was formed in 2012, GMS Racing has won five titles across multiple series, including the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, the 2015 ARCA Menards Series championship, as well as the 2019 & 2020 ARCA Menards Series East championships. GMS has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. including operations for GMS Fabrication. The GMS Racing campus also houses operations for Petty GMS, a two car full-time NASCAR Cup Series team formed in 2021.
SOCIAL MEDIA
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
LONG POND, Pa. (July 6, 2022) – Pony rides. Morning yoga in the infield. Nightly block parties. Access to legendary drivers and chocolate galore. Race fans will enjoy all that and much more when NASCAR returns to Pocono Raceway for a jam-packed weekend of on- and off-track activities, July 22-24.
On track, fans will enjoy four main events in just three days, including the General Tire Delivers 200 ARCA Menards Series (Friday), CRC Brakleen 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (Saturday), the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 NASCAR Xfinity Series (Saturday), and the M&M’SⓇ Fan Appreciation 400 NASCAR Cup Series main event on Sunday.
Off track, Pocono Raceway is committed to providing a full schedule of free entertainment that is included with each event ticket. Here’s a glimpse of what fans can expect:
Family-Friendly Fun
Free Kids Admission
Kids 12 and under are admitted free ALL weekend, including to the M&M’S Fan Appreciation 400 NASCAR Cup Series race; up to four kids tickets with one adult ticket.
Fan Fair & Midway Fan Fair offers fun for everyone, featuring a classic carnival, rides and games, as well as the Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital Kids Zone for face painting, inflatables and kid-friendly fun. Fan Fair will include interactive displays from Chevrolet, General Tire, Weis Markets, Busch Light, M&M’S, Bear Hollow Wood Carvers, Rowdy Energy and DoorDash, to name a few. Admission to this fan-favorite area is included with your race ticket and will open daily: Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m.
Free Classic Carnival
Fan Fair will also host a classic carnival, including rides, slides, and plenty of fun. All rides are FREE with gate admission.
Pocono Raceway Vet Village
Pocono Raceway will continue its longstanding tradition of honoring our veterans and military members. The Vet Village, located in Fan Fair, will host more than 30 veteran-based organizations. In addition, the raceway will host more than 100 Gold Star families for breakfast and a special ceremony on Sunday morning.
Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital Kids Day
Saturday is all about the kids at Pocono Raceway. Enjoy FREE activities, including face painting, exhibits, photo booths, educational/community activities and more. All activities and entertainment are FREE for kids (ages 12 and under) and FREE for adults with a Saturday ticket.
Roaming Entertainers
Keep your eyes peeled all weekend long for something super! You might just find magicians, Captain America and Wonder Woman roaming around the fan areas.
Playgrounds
Pocono Raceway is home to two playgrounds for kids to burn some energy. Tricky’s Kit Kamp is designed for our youngest fans to play near gate 8 behind the grandstands. Located in the infield, the #PoconoMtns Inclusive Playground is designed for children of all ages and abilities to learn, grow and play together. The nearly 5,000-square-foot playground is one of the top 100 inclusive playgrounds in the country.
Sensory Rooms
Pocono Raceway partnered with KultureCity to make the raceway a sensory-inclusive motorsports facility. If needed, guests can access sensory bags, which include noise-canceling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards and weighted lap pads, two sensory rooms, and the #PoconoMtns Inclusive Playground to maximize their enjoyment of race weekend.
Camping
Camping at Pocono Raceway is simply the best and easiest way to maximize four days of fun and entertainment. Campers will enjoy:
Pocono Mountains Activities & Welcome Center
Built three years ago in the heart of the infield, the Welcome Center is open to campers and staffed by Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau employees who can offer local information and tips.
This popular spot will host activities Thursday-Sunday ranging from morning yoga to science activities for the kids to ‘paint & sips’ for adults. All FREE for campers. All programming is directed by teachers and counselors from Northampton Community College.
Reptile Wrangler
Say hello to some friendly reptiles and learn from the Reptile Wrangler on Friday from 3-5 p.m.
Pony Rides
Kids can enjoy a different type of horsepower with pony rides on Saturday from 4-6 p.m. in the grassy area adjacent to the #POCONOMTNS Inclusive Playground.
Infield Block Party
From 5 p.m.-midnight Thursday-Saturday, the Infield Block Party is the place to be! Enjoy high-energy cover bands, drink specials and a one-of-a-kind celebration each night. Please note: The Infield Block Party is only open to camping guests; no public access.
Track Access
Campers have special access to enjoy a walk, run or bike ride on ‘The Tricky Triangle’ Thursday evening from 3-6 p.m. and Friday morning from 8-11 a.m.
Fireworks
Don’t miss the Pocono Mountains’ biggest fireworks show on Saturday night at 9:15 p.m. Free to all camping guests. Limited spots are still available at poconoraceway.com/camping.
Bark Park
Pocono Raceway’s camping areas are dog friendly! All guests with dogs are encouraged to check out the Bark Park, centrally located in the infield. Please follow all posted rules. Open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.
Recess with Chase Briscoe
School may be out, but kids can still enjoy ‘recess’ with NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The first 300 kids at the infield playground will enjoy a free treat with Tricky and hang out with Briscoe.
Alex Bowman Visits the Bark Park
Bring your pooch and meet Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman at the Bark Park on Sunday at noon. For the comfort and convenience of all our furry friends, access will be limited.
Driver Access
Driver Autograph Sessions
On Friday and Saturday, bring out the family to get autographs from drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (Friday, 3 p.m.) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.). Wristbands will be distributed in advance and autograph sessions will take place at the M&M’S® Fan Stage located in Fan Fair.
Austin Cindric Trackside Q&A
Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric will take his place in the Starter’s Stand on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. as race fans sign the start/finish line.
Fan Amenities
Monster Energy Free Friday
Bring an empty Monster Energy drink can to any grandstand gate, recycle it and get in free on Friday, July 22, for the General Tire Delivers 200 ARCA Menards Series race and Camping World Truck Series practice and qualifying.
Hauler Parades
Fans can give NASCAR’s highway warriors a Pocono Raceway-sized welcome during three hauler parades on Saturday and Sunday. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series haulers will parade in on Friday at 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively, while the NASCAR Cup Series haulers enter on Saturday at 7:30 a.m.
The haulers will come from behind the grandstand, pass outside of Turn 3, cut across the track and pass through the Turn 3 infield campgrounds before entering the garage.
M&M’S® Fan Stage (located in Fan Fair)
The M&M’S® Fan Stage is the sweetest place to enjoy autograph sessions, fan Q&As, live music and more. Don’t miss Sunday’s Q&A sessions with legendary M&M’S® drivers, including Ernie Irvan, Ken Schrader, David Gilliland and Kyle Busch. Check the stage-side schedule for complete details.
Worry-free Weather Guarantee
The Worry-Free Weather Guarantee ensures that fans who purchase M&M’S(R) Fan Appreciation 400 NASCAR Cup Series tickets for Sunday, July 24, directly from Pocono Raceway in advance will be reimbursed the ticket’s face value if weather postpones the race and they are unable to make the rescheduled event.
Free Fan WiFi
FREE WiFi is now available at Pocono Raceway. Fans can turn on their Wi-Fi setting, find the #PoconoFreeFanWiFi network and log on with the click of a button for FREE!
Food & Drink
Pack your appetite when you head to the track! Fans can enjoy everything from a Greek food truck in the Paddock to Tricky’s Trash Can Fries located behind he grandstands. Plus, quench your thirst at Busch Light bars in the Paddock, Midway and Fan Fair areas or enjoy local-favorite Pocono Punch crafted by local favorite Barley Creek Brewing Company in Tannersville, Pa.
2022 NASCAR Schedule of Events
Friday, July 22 – General Tire Delivers 200 – ARCA Menards Series Saturday, July 23 – CRC Brakleen 150 – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Saturday July 23 – Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 – NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunday, July 24 – M&M’SⓇ Fan Appreciation 400 – NASCAR Cup Series
About Pocono Raceway
Pocono Raceway, also known as ‘The Tricky Triangle,’ is family-owned and situated in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. In business for over 50 years, the Raceway hosts multiple, national motorsports events including the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series events each year. The facility’s calendar also consists of over 200 events including Tough Mudder and a wide range of car clubs and racing schools. Pocono Raceway is recognized as the world’s first, privately-owned solar-powered sports facility. Their 25-acre, three-megawatt solar farm provides the energy needs of the Raceway, as well as, adds electricity to the local power grid. Each member of our raceway staff is committed to creating exciting experiences and lifelong memories. For more information, please visit www.poconoraceway.com.
COLE CUSTER Atlanta Advance No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing
Event Overview
● Event: Atlanta 400 (Round 19 of 36) ● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 10 ● Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway ● Layout: 1.54-mile oval ● Laps/Miles: 260 laps/400 miles ● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 100 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps ● TV/Radio: USA / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will be making his 94th career NASCAR Cup Series start during Sunday’s Atlanta 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It will be the series’ second race on the 1.54-mile oval after it underwent a wholesale offseason reconfiguration and repave. The banking was increased from 24 to 28 degrees, the racing surface narrowed from 55 to 40 feet wide, and it has been completely resurfaced with fresh asphalt and an improved, high-tech drainage system. Prior to the series’ first race on the redesigned racetrack last March, competitors benefitted from a full, 50-minute practice session. This weekend, just two rounds of single-car, single-lap qualifying will precede Sunday’s 260-lap, 400-mile race.
● In March at Atlanta, Custer started 20th and saw his race end just short of its midpoint after getting caught up in a multicar accident not of his doing. In three Cup Series starts at Atlanta prior to this season, Custer scored top-20 finishes in each and made incremental improvement each time. He was 19th in his first outing in 2020, and was 18th and 17th in last year’s March and July races, respectively.
● In three Atlanta starts in the Xfinity Series, Custer’s best was his most recent, when he qualified his No. 00 SHR Ford on the pole and finished second by .191 of a second to Christopher Bell in the February 2019 race. Custer finished 10th in his Atlanta Xfinity Series debut in 2017 before returning in 2018 to qualify fourth but seeing his race end early after a lap-10 accident.
● Custer’s first appearance at Atlanta came in the February 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, when he started sixth and finished 17th in the No. 00 entry for JR Motorsports.
● Riding along with Custer and his SHR Mustang is team co-owner Gene Haas’ newest holding, Haas Tooling, which was launched as a way for CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. HaasTooling.com products became available nationally in July 2020. Haas Automation, founded by Haas in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers and rotary tables and indexers. All Haas products are constructed in the company’s 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California, and distributed through a worldwide network of Haas Factory Outlets.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing
You had your first chance to experience the new Atlanta layout in March. What did you think about the race?
“Atlanta, now, is such an oddball racetrack, really unique, because we’re pretty much superspeedway racing similar to Daytona but on a mile-and-a-half racetrack, which is way smaller, way tighter, and give you much less room for error. We’re really packed up tight, which makes for some exciting racing because you’re side-by-side and inches apart the whole race. So you’re just hoping you’re not involved in one of the big wrecks.”
How would you describe the racing on the new layout, and what are you expecting this weekend?
“It’s kind of like a hybrid between mile-and-a-half racing and speedway racing. We have a lot of the aspects of speedway racing, we’re all really close in a pack, but at the end of the day I think handling matters a lot more when you go to Atlanta because it is a tighter-radius corner than it is at Daytona and it is a lot tighter of a racetrack. And looking at this weekend, it’s going to be really hot and slick, which is going to make the cars pretty out of control. We’re going to see who has the handling figured out.”
How much do you think everybody is looking back on the March race to help decide what to do there this weekend?
“I think everybody’s going to be looking back at the last race a ton. When you look at it, that race was really unexplored, we had no idea what to expect. It was so much different than we’ve had in the past there at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the way they repaved the racetrack, completely different aero package and motor package, and that made the racing completely different from what you saw there in the past. So now for us drivers, we’re going to go back and look at that race and try to figure out what moves worked, what didn’t, and try to get a feel for what we’ve got to do inside the car.”
With eight races to go in the regular season, what kind of urgency is there to win?
“For our 41 team, we’re looking at every single race like we’ve got to go out there and win. There have been a lot of different winners this year, so you pretty much have to win to make the playoffs. We’ve had the speed at times to run up front and do what we need to do, but we just need to be consistent with it and hopefully put everything together one of these weekends coming up. Hopefully that’ll happen at Atlanta.”
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Team Roster
Primary Team Members
Driver: Cole Custer Hometown: Ladera Ranch, California
Crew Chief: Mike Shiplett Hometown: Amherst, Ohio
Car Chief: Tony Cardamone Hometown: Bristol, Virginia
Engineer: Lee Deese Hometown: Rockingham, North Carolina
Engineer: Scott Bingham Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia
Spotter: Andy Houston Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina
Over-The-Wall Members
Front Tire Changer: Josh Leslie Hometown: Mount Clemens, Michigan
JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW: TRACK: Atlanta Motor Speedway RACE: Alsco Uniforms 250 (163 laps / 251 miles) DATE: Saturday, July 9, 2022
Broadcast Information – TV: 5 p.m. ET on USA / Radio: 4:30 p.m. ET on PRN and Sirius XM Ch. 90
Sam Mayer No. 1 Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions Chevrolet • Sam Mayer earned his first career top-10 finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during his first start at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July of 2021. • In 15 starts at tracks measuring between 1-2 miles in length in the NXS, Mayer has five top fives and seven top 10s, with a best finish of third at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season. • Mayer raced as high as third during the first event at the newly paved and configured Atlanta before finishing 21st after a cut tire took him out of contention. • With 10 races before the NXS Playoffs begin, Mayer currently sits 97 points above the playoff cutline.
Josh Berry No. 8 HarrisonsUSA.com Chevrolet • In Atlanta earlier this season, Josh Berry started second and led three laps before being involved in a multi-car incident on lap 153. • Berry started from the back last week at Road America and drove to a third-place finish to earn his seventh top-five finish of the 2022 NXS season. • In 24 starts on tracks measuring between 1-2 miles in length, Berry has recorded three wins (Charlotte, Dover, Las Vegas), eight top fives and 12 top 10s while leading the field for 288 laps. • Berry currently sits fifth in the championship standings only 74 markers from first place.
Noah Gragson No. 9 Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet • In the first Atlanta race this season, Noah Gragson started from the pole and led 38 laps prior to a pair of incidents that relegated him to a 26th-place finish. It was the first time in five AMS starts that Gragson had not finished in the top 10. • The 23-year-old Las Vegas native has been stellar at Atlanta, earning finishes of second, third, fourth and ninth and leading 58 laps in his five starts. • On 1.5-mile tracks in his career, Gragson has 16 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in 35 starts and has led 470 laps. • Gragson and the No. 9 team are currently second on the playoff grid and fourth in driver points after 16 races this season.
Justin Allgaier No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet • Justin Allgaier will make his 14th career NXS start at Atlanta this weekend. • In 13 previous races at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, Allgaier has earned one win, three top fives and eight top 10s. • Allgaier’s lone victory came in March of 2021, after the JRM driver led 47 of the final 50 laps. • The Illinois native has finished seventh or better in five of the last six races at Atlanta dating back to 2018. • In his NXS career, Allgaier has scored 10 wins, 65 top fives and 128 top 10s in 207 starts on tracks between 1 and 2 miles in length, with his most recent victory coming two weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway
Driver Quotes
“We had a really good run going earlier this year in Atlanta but a cut tire really cost us a good finish. We were able to get back on the lead lap but it was just too late at that point. This Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions team never gave up. I know we will have another fast Camaro this weekend, we just need a little luck to go our way.” – Sam Mayer
“It’s going to be interesting heading back to Atlanta this weekend. It’s our second race on this new configuration and I feel like we learned a lot here back in March. This place definitely races more like a superspeedway now, so I know that we are going to have a ton of speed out of our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet. Hopefully we can find ourselves in the right position on Saturday afternoon and avoid any trouble out there to be in contention for the win when it counts.” – Justin Allgaier
“Atlanta is a track that hasn’t been good for me in the past. I don’t think I’ve had an uneventful race there yet but I know this HarrisonsUSA.com team is going to unload with a fast No. 8 Chevrolet on Friday. Hopefully I can stay out of anything that happens and be contending for the win at the end. With the new configuration really anything can happen and we saw that earlier this year.” – Josh Berry
“We were fast at Atlanta in the spring, and I have no doubt we’ll be fast again this weekend. Luke (Lambert, crew chief) and our team have given me great Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolets, and we were in strong position in the first race at Atlanta. We’re 10 races from the playoffs starting, and now is the time to build momentum.” – Noah Gragson
JRM Team Updates:
• JR Motorsports at Atlanta: JR Motorsports has competed at Atlanta Motor Speedway a combined 51 times in the NXS. Over the course of these 51 starts at the 1.54-mile facility, JRM has tallied four wins (two with Kevin Harvick, and one each with Justin Allgaier and Jamie McMurray), 16 top fives and 32 top 10s. JRM’s most recent win came with Allgaier during the 2021 season. The average finish for JRM at Atlanta is 10.7 which ranks as the fourth best single-track average for the organization. • Harrison’s USA: When Josh Berry finishes inside of the top eight, head on over to harrisonsusa.com and use code “Josh8” to receive eight percent off your online order. • Atlanta Fan Stage: JRM driver Sam Mayer will be at the Atlanta Fan Stage in the Fan Zone on Saturday, July 9 from 2:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. • Souvenir Rig: JRM drivers Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry will be signing autographs at the JR Motorsports/Hendrick Motorsports souvenir rig on Saturday, July 9 starting at 1 p.m.
· NCS/NXS: Atlanta Motor Speedway – July 9-10 · NCWTS/ARCA: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – July 8-9
PLANO, Texas (July 6, 2022) – The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to their second stop of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series makes its first ever stop at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – supported by the ARCA Menards Series.
NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS | NCWTS
Kurt Busch solid in the ATL… Kurt Busch led Toyota in the spring race on the newly-paved Atlanta Motor Speedway as the Las Vegas-native led four laps and finished third. Busch also was strong in the last race at the track before the repave – leading 144 of 260 laps on his way to the victory in July 2021.
Bell looking for redemption… Christopher Bell is looking for redemption at Atlanta after a post-race penalty earlier this season in Atlanta negated a podium finish. Bell has consistently run well at the track, including earning the first NASCAR victory for the Supra in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2019.
Gibbs continues to impress… Ty Gibbs scored an impressive win on Saturday at Road America, getting past reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson on the final lap. It was Gibbs’ series-leading fourth victory of the season, which helped him close within nine points of the championship lead. Gibbs is looking for his second straight win at Atlanta after he won earlier this season at the track with a bold last lap pass.
Back home for Jones… Brandon Jones is headed back to his home track – Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Georgia-native is coming off his third top-five finish of the season at Road America and had a strong run earlier this spring in Atlanta, crossing the finish line in seventh.
Truex, Earnhardt return… Ryan Truex and Jeffrey Earnhardt are back in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event this weekend – competing in Toyota GR Supras. Truex will make his fifth start in the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his last start, Truex finished a season-best sixth at Texas. Earnhardt is back in the No. 26 for Sam Hunt Racing (SHR). Similarly, Earnhardt had a strong run in his last start – finishing seventh in Nashville. He competed at Atlanta earlier this season for SHR, finishing 13th.
Majeski, Eckes look to clinch… Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes plan to clinch their NASCAR Truck Series Playoff berths this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with another strong run. With two races remaining in the regular season, Majeski holds a 127-point advantage over 11th in the point standings as he is on a streak of three consecutive top-five finishes. Eckes is seventh in points, 97 points ahead of 11th. He has five top-six finishes in his last seven starts.
Heim battles for Rookie of Year title…Toyota development driver Corey Heim looks to become the second consecutive driver from the Kyle Busch Motorsports stable to earn the Rookie of the Year title, joining last season’s winner, Chandler Smith. Heim, who turned 20 on Tuesday, already owns two wins in his seven starts this season. Despite only starting seven of the 14 events this season, Heim sits just eight points out of the Rookie of the Year lead.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA
Double for Nemechek… As the Truck Series makes its first laps at Mid-Ohio, John Hunter Nemechek is getting some extra laps in Friday’s ARCA event aboard the No. 55 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports (VMS). VMS will field four Camrys for the event as Nemechek will have road course ace Parker Chase, 17-year-old Jesse Love and full-time competitor Toni Breidinger as teammates.
Smith looks for three straight… One week after making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, Sammy Smith heads to Mid-Ohio on a hot streak in ARCA Menards Series action. Smith is coming in on a two-race winning streak after a dominating performance at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway – leading 233 of 250 laps.
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With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch reaching its conclusion, Kyle Busch Motorsports is set to surpass a milestone start in the team’s 13th season in Truck competition. When KBM drivers Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith compete in this weekend’s inaugural event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, KBM will surpass a combined 750 career starts in the Truck Series.
Kyle Busch Motorsports debuted in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2010 with trucks purchased from Roush Fenway Racing and assets acquired from Xpress Motorsports as the team headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina. By then, Busch had campaigned in seven part-time seasons in the series while accumulating 16 victories, all occurring with Billy Ballew Motorsports.
For the 2010 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports planned on fielding three trucks: one that would be split between Busch and Brian Ickler, another that would be driven on a full-time basis by Taylor Malsam and a third that would be piloted by former champion Johnny Benson Jr. pending additional sponsorships. Prior to the start of the season, however, Miccosukee Resorts, one of Busch’s key Truck sponsors that initially followed him to KBM from Billy Ballew Motorsports, terminated its partnership with NASCAR and left Busch without a full-time sponsor throughout his part-time campaign. In addition, Benson’s role was limited to a part-time status as he shared the No. 18 Toyota Tundra entry with Busch, Ickler and Kasey Kahne while the second KBM entry, the No. 56 Toyota Tundra that was piloted by Malsam, was terminated following the first seven events. Despite the rocky start, it only took the first four events of the season for Kyle Busch to record the first victory for KBM at Nashville Superspeedway in April 2010. Busch went on to achieve victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Bristol Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway in August, New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, Talladega Superspeedway in October and at Texas Motor Speedway in November, all occurring in the No. 18 entry. After winning the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November following a four-lap shootout, Busch captured the 2010 Truck Series owners’ championship on the strength of eight victories in 16 starts throughout the 25-race schedule. In total, KBM achieved eight victories, six poles, 16 top-five results and 21 top-10 results in its first season in NASCAR competition.
For the team’s second season in 2011, Busch fielded the No. 18 Toyota Tundra as the primary, “all-star” entry that was split between himself, Kasey Kahne, Brian Ickler, Josh Richards and Denny Hamlin. Busch also fielded the Nos. 15 and 51 entries that both campaigned in limited events and was shared between Kimi Räikkönen, German Quiroga and Richards. Throughout the 2011 Truck season, Busch notched six victories in 16 starts, Kahne won at Darlington Raceway in March and Hamlin notched his first Truck victory at Martinsville Speedway in October, all occurring in KBM’s No. 18 entry. Despite accumulating a total of eight victories, two poles, 16 top-five results and 18 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule, the No. 18 entry settled in second place in the final owners’ standings behind the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. entry.
Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR.
The 2012 Truck season was a difficult season for Kyle Busch Motorsports despite the team fielding the No. 18 Toyota Tundra on a full-time basis for a third consecutive season while the No. 51 Toyota Tundra competed the final five scheduled events with Quiroga and Hamlin behind the wheel. At the start of the season, veteran Jason Leffler piloted the No. 18 Toyota as the team’s primary competitor, but was released in August after only recording six top-10 results through the first 10 events. For the remainder of the season, the No. 18 entry was split between Busch, Hamlin, Brian Scott, Kurt Busch, Drew Herring and David Mayhew. After going winless for the majority of the season, Hamlin recorded the first victory of 2012 for KBM when he piloted the No. 51 Toyota to a win at Martinsville in October. Two races later, Scott overtook rookie Kyle Larson during a two-lap shootout to wheel the No. 18 Toyota to a late victory at Phoenix Raceway in November. In the end, KBM capped off the season with Busch being edged by Cale Gale in a photo finish at Homestead as Busch concluded a Truck season winless for the first time since 2004.
In 2013, Kyle Busch Motorsports fielded three full-time entries for the first time in the team’s history with the No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry becoming the team’s “all-star” entry that was piloted between Busch, Erik Jones, Chad Hackenbracht, Scott Bloomquist and Hamlin throughout the 22-race schedule. For the new season, the No. 18 Toyota Tundra entry was taken sole possession by full-time competitor Joey Coulter while KBM’s No. 54 Toyota Tundra entry debuted for newcomer Bubba Wallace. Through the first 20 events, the No. 51 entry visited Victory Lane four times, all with Busch. At Phoenix in November, Jones became the youngest winner in the series at age 17 years, five months and nine days after recording his first career victory in KBM’s No. 51 truck. During the following weekend at Homestead, Busch survived three late-race restarts to capture his fifth win of the 2013 season and clinch the owners’ title for his No. 51 entry in a tie-breaker against ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 entry piloted by the 2013 drivers’ champion Matt Crafton. Meanwhile, the No. 18 entry that was piloted by Coulter achieved a total of five top-10 results and a 15th-place result in the final drivers’ standings while the No. 54 entry managed to earn a trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville in October as Wallace became the first African-American competitor to win in the Truck Series. To go along with his first Truck career victory, Wallace capped off his first full-time campaign in the series with a pole, five top-five results, 12 top-10 results and an eighth-place result in the drivers’ standings.
Photo by Kala Perkins for SpeedwayMedia.com.Photo by Gary Buchanan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
The 2014 season was a breakout year for Kyle Busch Motorsports, which featured Busch and Erik Jones splitting driving responsibilities of the No. 51 Toyota Tundra while Bubba Wallace returned as the driver of the No. 54 Toyota Tundra. In total, KBM won 14 of the 22 races to the schedule as Busch and Jones, both of whom earned a combined 10 victories, guided the No. 51 entry to the team’s third owners’ championship. Wallace piloted the No. 54 truck to four victories, two poles, nine top-five results and 14 top-10 results as he finished in third place in the final drivers’ standings.
A month following the conclusion of the 2014 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports unveiled its driver lineup for the 2015 season with Erik Jones headlining the lineup as he was promoted to a full-time Truck Series campaign in the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while newcomer Justin Boston replaced Bubba Wallace, who graduated to the Xfinity Series with Roush Fenway Racing, in the No. 54 Toyota Tundra. Meanwhile, KBM’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra team remained as an “all-star” entry that was split between Busch, Daniel Suarez, Matt Tifft and Christopher Bell. Early in the season, Suarez and Tifft served as the primary competitors of the No. 51 entry with Busch recovering from injuries sustained in a late multi-car wreck during the Xfinity season-opening event at Daytona in February. Boston, however, was released by KBM nine races into the new season due to a breech of contract involving the driver and his sponsor Zloop. With Boston out, the No. 54 entry was split between Tifft, Cody Coughlin, Gray Gaulding, Bell and Busch, who returned to full-time competition in May. Despite the early season drama for KBM, Bell captured his first career victory at Eldora Speedway in July following a two-lap shootout while Busch piloted the No. 51 truck to two victories at Pocono Raceway and at Michigan International Speedway between July and August. Meanwhile, Jones earned victories at Iowa Speedway in June, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August and at Texas Motor Speedway in November. To go along with five poles, 11 top-five results and 20 top-10 results, Jones claimed the 2015 Truck Series championship following a sixth-place result at Homestead and by 15 points over Tyler Reddick and 22 over Matt Crafton. With Jones’ accomplishment, Kyle Busch Motorsports achieved its first drivers’ championship along with its fourth owners’ title in NASCAR.
Photo by Don Dunn for SpeedwayMedia.com.
The 2016 Truck Series season featured another new driver lineup for Kyle Busch Motorsports as Bell, coming off his first career victory at Eldora, replaced Erik Jones, who moved up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, as the driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while William Byron, the reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion who made his Truck debut with KBM at Phoenix in November during the previous season, piloted the No. 9 Toyota Tundra. The No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry was split between Daniel Suarez, Cody Coughlin, Jones and Gary Klutt throughout the season while the No. 18 KBM entry made a total of five starts between Busch, Coughlin and Harrison Burton. Throughout the season, Busch wheeled the No. 18 truck to victories at Martinsville in April and at Chicagoland Speedway in September while Suarez drove the No. 51 Toyota to his first Truck career victory at Phoenix in November. The No. 9 Toyota team piloted by Byron achieved great success throughout the season with the Charlotte native earning his first career victory at Kansas Speedway in May after dodging a final lap incident involving Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes. He went on to win at Texas and Iowa Speedway in June followed by Kentucky Speedway in July as KBM became the winningest team in the Truck Series with 51 victories. After Byron won at Pocono in July, he established a new record for achieving the most victories by a rookie Truck competitor with five. After qualifying for the inaugural 2016 Truck Playoffs, he won the first postseason event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September and utilized consistency to transfer all the way to the Playoff’s Round of 6. Byron’s title hopes, however, came to an end at Phoenix in November after his No. 9 entry suffered an engine failure with 10 laps remaining while he was leading, which prevented him from earning a ticket to the Championship Round at Homestead. Nonetheless, he went on to win the season-finale event at Homestead for his unprecedented seventh victory of the season as he wrapped up both the 2016 Rookie-of-the-Year title and the fifth career owners’ title for KBM. In comparison to Byron and the No. 9 team, Bell and the No. 4 team rallied from a rocky start to generate a consistent regular season run, including a victory at Gateway in June, to qualify for the Playoffs. Bell remained consistent throughout the Playoffs to make it all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead and contend for the drivers’ title. During the finale, however, Bell finished in eighth place on the track and in third place in the final drivers’ standings.
Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.
For the 2017 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports retained Bell as driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while welcoming Noah Gragson as a full-time competitor of KBM’s No. 18 Toyota Tundra. Busch remained as a part-time competitor of his No. 51 Toyota Tundra as he split the ride with rookies Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Myatt Snider while also debuting the No. 46 Toyota Tundra for a total of four events, with himself and Gilliland earning two events apiece. Busch earned a total of three victories throughout the 2017 Truck season: two in the No. 51 entry at Kansas and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and one in the No. 46 entry at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. In addition, the No. 51 team earned a total of nine top-10 results and settled in fourth place in the final owners’ standings. For the No. 18 entry, Gragson earned his first career victory at Martinsville in October following a late duel with former champions Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter. To go along with three poles, four top-five results and 13 top-10 results, Gragson finished in 10th place in the final drivers’ standings and in his first full-time Truck campaign. For Bell, who entered the season as a potential title favorite, he achieved five victories along with five poles, 15 top-five results and 21 top-10 results as he made his second consecutive appearance both in the Playoffs and in the Championship Round at Homestead. During the finale, Bell finished in the runner-up spot on the track and captured the 2017 Truck Series drivers’ championship over Sauter, Austin Cindric and Crafton. With his first championship in NASCAR, Bell recorded the second drivers’ championship and the sixth owners’ title overall for KBM.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
During the following season, Busch retained Gragson in the No. 18 KBM Toyota Tundra while Todd Gilliland contended for the 2018 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title in the No. 4 Toyota Tundra, thus replacing Bell as Bell became a full-time Xfinity competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gilliland, however, missed four of the first six events due to age restrictions and spent the early portions of the season splitting the No. 4 Toyota with his father David, Busch and newcomer Spencer Davis while Davis, Busch, David Gilliland, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Logan Seavey and Christopher Bell took turns piloting the No. 51 Toyota Tundra. The No. 46 KBM Toyota Tundra also returned for a total of six events that was split between Brandon Jones, Herbst and newcomer Christian Eckes. Throughout the season, the No. 46 entry’s best on-track result was third at Charlotte in May made by Jones while the No. 4 entry achieved a season-best result of second place at Gateway in June with Todd Gilliland, who finished in 10th place in the final drivers’ standings. The No. 51 entry went to Victory Lane twice during the season with Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and at Pocono in July while Gragson wheeled the No. 18 entry to a dominant win at Kansas in May. Despite being absent at Pocono due to illness, where he was replaced by Erik Jones, Gragson utilized consistency to qualify for the 2018 Truck Playoffs and transfer all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead, where he settled in the runner-up spot in the final drivers’ standings.
The 2019 season featured Harrison Burton replacing Noah Gragson, who graduated to the Xfinity Series, as the driver of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota Tundra while Todd Gilliland remained as a full-time driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra. Meanwhile, the No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry returned as the “all-star” entry that was split between Busch, Eckes, Brandon Jones, Greg Biffle, Chandler Smith, Alex Tagliani and Riley Herbst. The No. 46 Toyota Tundra entry returned for a total of seven events that was split between Herbst, Smith and Raphaël Lessard. In comparison to recent seasons, KBM endured a difficult 2019 season as both Burton and Gilliland did not make the Playoffs. While Burton finished in 12th place in the final drivers’ standings with no victories and 11 top-10 results, Gilliland managed to record his first Truck career victory at Martinsville in October along with 14 top-10 results before settling in 11th place in the final standings. With the No. 46 entry finishing no higher than fourth at Gateway in June made by Chandler Smith, the No. 51 entry won six of the 23-scheduled events: five with Busch and one with Biffle. To go along with a total of 15 top-five results and 17 top-10 results throughout the 23-race schedule, the No. 51 entry managed to capture the 2019 Truck owners’ title as KBM achieved its seventh owners’ championship in NASCAR.
Photo by Brad Keppel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
For the following season, Kyle Busch Motorsports introduced new drivers to the Nos. 4 and 18 entries as Harrison Burton moved up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing while Todd Gilliland moved over to Front Row Motorsports. The No. 18 Toyota was taken over by Christian Eckes while Raphaël Lessard took over the No. 4 Toyota. The No. 51 Toyota also returned as Busch, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith, Riley Herbst and Alex Tagliani took turns to drive the truck throughout the season. In his first full-time campaign in the series, Eckes qualified for the 2020 Truck Playoffs, but was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 10 as he ended up in eighth place in the final drivers’ standings with no victories and 11 top-10 results. Lessard, on the other hand, did not make the Playoffs, but he managed to capture his first career victory at Talladega in October along with a total of seven top-10 results before finishing in 12th place in the final standings. Meanwhile, the No. 51 entry went to Victory Lane four times: three with Busch and once with Brandon Jones, who captured his first elusive series win at Pocono in June. To go along with a total of 10 results in the top five, the No. 51 entry settled in sixth place in the final owners’ standings.
This past season, Kyle Busch Motorsports welcomed John Hunter Nemechek as the driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra, where he replaced Lessard, while Chandler Smith replaced Christian Eckes as a full-time competitor of the No. 18 Toyota Tundra. The No. 51 Toyota Tundra remained as the “all-star” entry for a ninth consecutive season as the truck was piloted between Busch, Drew Dollar, Parker Chase, Martin Truex Jr., Corey Heim, Brian Brown, Derek Griffith and Dylan Lupton throughout the 22-race schedule. Three races into the new season, Nemechek recorded his first win with KBM at Las Vegas in March before the No. 51 entry visited Victory Lane during the following two events: the first with Busch at Atlanta and the second at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course with Truex, who claimed his first Truck career victory. Not long after, Nemechek fended off Busch to win at Richmond Raceway before Busch capitalized on a late restart to win at Kansas. Those five victories followed by three additional victories by Nemechek capped off a strong regular season stretch as Nemechek, who claimed the regular season championship, and Chandler Smith qualified for the 2021 Truck Playoffs. During the Playoffs, Smith claimed his first Truck career victory at Bristol in September to advance from the Round of 10 to 8 along with Nemechek. During the Round of 8, Smith’s title hopes evaporated while Nemechek was able to earn enough points through consistency to secure a spot in the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway. An early tire issued, however, derailed Nemechek’s title hopes as he ended up in third place in the final drivers’ standings while Smith won the finale and captured the 2021 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title. Meanwhile, the No. 51 entry settled in 10th place in the owners’ standings.
This season, Kyle Busch Motorsports retained John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith as drivers of the Nos. 4 and 18 entries, respectively. In addition, Corey Heim returned with an expanded part-time Truck schedule as he split the No. 51 entry with Kyle Busch and Buddy Kofoid. Through the first 14 scheduled events, all three KBM entries have visited Victory Lane at least once, with Smith winning at Las Vegas in March, Nemechek winning at Darlington in May, Busch winning at Sonoma Raceway in June and Heim recording his first two career victories in the series at Atlanta in March followed by Gateway in June. Heim is scheduled to take over the No. 51 entry for the remainder of the season as he contends for the 2022 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title while Nemechek and Smith, both of whom are pursuing their first championship in NASCAR, are guaranteed spots for the 2022 Truck Playoffs.
Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Through a combined 749 Truck starts, Kyle Busch Motorsports has achieved two drivers’ championships, a record seven owners’ championships, 95 victories, 63 poles, 276 top-five results, 439 top-10 results and 13,196 laps led with 51 different competitors making at least one start for the organization.
Kyle Busch Motorsports is primed to surpass 750 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, July 9, with coverage to occur at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
A significant milestone achievement is in the making for Jason Ratcliff, crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota Supra team piloted by multiple competitors in this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series. By participating in this weekend’s event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Ratcliff will call his 500th Xfinity event as a crew chief.
A native of Sumter, South Carolina, Ratcliff, who began his racing career working on mini Sprint Cars in Texas before working for the Sadler Brothers Racing Team in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1995, made his debut as a NASCAR crew chief in 2000 for Casey Atwood and the No. 27 Brewco Motorsports Chevrolet team. In his first season as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series, Ratcliff led Atwood and the No. 27 team to two poles and eight top-10 results throughout the 32-race schedule before Atwood settled in eighth place in the final standings.
During the following two Xfinity seasons, Ratcliff remained at Brewco Motorsports while being paired with rookie driver Jamie McMurray, who replaced Atwood. Together, the duo achieved a total of six top-five results and 17 top-10 results through the two seasons with a best points result of sixth place in 2002. In addition, Ratcliff achieved his first two career wins as a NASCAR crew chief in back-to-back weekends as he guided McMurray to his first two career victories in the Xfinity circuit at Atlanta Motor Speedway and at Rockingham’s North Carolina Speedway between October and November.
In 2003, Ratcliff was paired with the 1996 Xfinity champion David Green, who was driving the No. 37 Pontiac for Brewco Motorsports. After calling his 100th Xfinity event as a crew chief during the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Ratcliff guided Green to three victories: Nashville Superspeedway in April, New Hampshire International Speedway in July and at Kansas Speedway in October. To go along with two poles, 11 top-five results, 21 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.1, they settled in second place in the final standings and fell 14 points shy of the title to driver Brian Vickers and crew chief Lance McGrew from Hendrick Motorsports.
After leading Green to a seventh-place result in the final standings in 2004 despite going winless, Ratcliff joined forces with Joe Gibbs Racing to serve as a crew chief for JJ Yeley and the No. 18 Chevrolet team for the 2005 Xfinity season. Throughout the season, Ratcliff and Yeley achieved a season-best runner-up result at Memphis Motorsports Park in October along with a pole, six top-five results and 16 top-10 results throughout the 35-race schedule before Yeley finished in seventh place in the final standings. By then, Ratcliff surpassed 200 career events as an Xfinity crew chief.
Despite enduring a winless season in 2006 while guiding Yeley and the No. 18 JGR team to four poles, nine top-five results, 22 top-10 results and a fifth-place result in the final standings, Ratcliff retained his role as a crew chief for the No. 18 team in 2007. On this occasion, the No. 18 entry was piloted between Aric Almirola, Brad Coleman, Kevin Conway and Tony Stewart throughout the 35-race schedule. The team’s best result throughout the season was a runner-up performance by Coleman at Kentucky Speedway in June coupled with two poles, five top-five results and eight top-10 results throughout the 35-race schedule.
Ratcliff remained at JGR and as crew chief for the team’s No. 18 entry for the 2008 season that competed on a part-time basis and was shared between Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart in the early stages of the season. By then, the organization swapped manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota. After leading Busch and the No. 18 team to a runner-up result at Daytona in February and a 31st-place result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, Ratcliff and Busch achieved their first victory of the season and with JGR when Busch claimed a dominant win at Texas Motor Speedway in April. Ratcliff went on to achieve three additional victories with Busch and another with Hamlin during the next nine events that the No. 18 entry competed in the Xfinity circuit. In August, however, Ratcliff was among a number of JGR employees, including crew chief Dave Rogers, who were suspended from NASCAR indefinitely after NASCAR penalized JGR’s Nos. 18 and 20 Xfinity Series teams due to rule violations discovered by NASCAR inspectors prior to post-race testing on the chassis dynamometer at Michigan. Despite the hefty points penalties and suspensions, JGR’s No. 18 Toyota team went on to win five more events for the remainder of the season as Wally Brown, Doug Hewitt and Joel Weidman were atop the pit box of JGR’s Xfinity Series operations.
Following his indefinite suspension, Ratcliff returned as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series for JGR’s No. 18 Toyota Camry team piloted by Kyle Busch, who elected to run a full Xfinity schedule along with a full Cup Series schedule in 2009. Despite being absent for the season-opening event at Daytona, Ratcliff earned a one-way trip to Victory Lane in his return atop the pit box at Auto Club Speedway in February when Busch won after leading all but seven of the 150-scheduled laps. The 2009 season proved to be a memorable one for the South Carolina native, who led Busch to eight additional victories, three poles, 24 top-five results and 29 top-10 results throughout the season. When the final checkered flag flew at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, Busch, who fended off title rival Carl Edwards to win the finale, claimed his first Xfinity Series championship by 210 points over Edwards. The 2009 Xfinity title was also a first for Joe Gibbs Racing, a first for Toyota in the series and for Ratcliff, who surpassed 300 career events as an Xfinity crew chief and recorded nine victories, three poles, 24 top-five results and 29 top-10 results with the No. 18 team.
In 2010, Ratcliff remained as a crew chief for JGR’s No. 18 Toyota team while Kyle Busch, who decided to not defend his series title, participated in 29 of the 35-race schedule. Brad Coleman drove the No. 18 car in the remaining six vacant events. Despite not being in contention for the drivers’ championship, JGR’s No. 18 entry achieved the 2010 Xfinity owners’ championship on the strength of 13 victories, all achieved by Busch, as Busch established an all-time record of most victories produced by a driver in an Xfinity season. The No. 18 team also achieved a total of three poles, 22 top-five results and 28 top-10 results throughout the 35-race schedule.
Ratcliff remained as a crew chief for JGR’s No. 18 Toyota Camry team for a seventh consecutive season in 2011 that was piloted between Kelly Bires, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Logano, Michael McDowell and Ryan Truex. Throughout the season, Ratcliff achieved eight victories, all with Busch. In addition, the No. 18 entry achieved three poles, 21 top-five results, 27 top-10 results and a runner-up result in the final Xfinity owners’ standings behind Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team.
Following 12 seasons in the Xfinity circuit, Ratcliff graduated to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2012, where he assumed the role of crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota Camry team. From 2012 through 2017, he notched 15 victories in NASCAR’s premier series while working with Logano and Matt Kenseth. Then in 2018, Ratcliff returned to the Xfinity Series to serve as a crew chief for JGR’s No. 20 Toyota Camry piloted by Christopher Bell, who was coming off a Camping World Truck Series championship with Kyle Busch Motorsports. Eight races into the new season, Ratcliff and Bell achieved their first victory of the season at Richmond in April. The duo went on to achieve three consecutive victories in July at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Iowa before entering the 2018 Xfinity Playoffs as a title favorite. After collecting victories at Richmond and Dover between September and Dover to transfer from the Playoff’s Round of 12 to 8, Ratcliff and Bell rallied from sustaining back-to-back DNFs at Kansas and Texas during the Round of 8 to win for the seventh time of the season at Phoenix in November and clinch a Championship 4 spot at Homestead. During the finale, however, Bell cut a tire in the closing stages and finished 11th on the track while also settling in fourth place in the final drivers’ standings. Despite falling short of winning his second championship, Ratcliff, who surpassed 400 Xfinity events as a crew chief, achieved great success in his return to the series as he led Bell and the No. 20 to seven victories, five poles, 18 top-five results, 20 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.3.
Remaining as Bell’s crew chief for the 2019 Xfinity Series season, Ratcliff achieved another successful season that started with a victory during the second event of the season at Atlanta. The duo went on to achieve seven additional victories, qualify for the Xfinity Playoffs and transfer all the way to the Championship 4 finale at Homestead with another opportunity to contend for the drivers’ championship. The duo, however, settled in fifth place during the finale and in third place in the final standings in a season where they recorded an additional victory, pole and top-10 result along with two additional top-five results and a higher average-finishing result (9.1) in comparison to 2018.
Following two strong consecutive seasons in the Xfinity circuit highlighted with 15 victories and two championship finale appearances, Ratcliff and Bell moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series and joined forces with Leavine Family Racing for the 2020 season. Once Leavine Family Racing ceased operations at the conclusion of the 2020 season and Bell re-joined Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 20 Toyota in the Cup Series, Ratcliff returned to the Xfinity Series for the 2021 season as a crew chief for the No. 20 Toyota Supra team piloted by Harrison Burton, the reigning Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year who won four races during his rookie campaign. Despite being absent at Darlington Raceway in September due to COVID-19 protocols and enduring a winless season, the new duo achieved a consistent season highlighted with nine top-five results, 21 top-10 results and a spot in the Xfinity Playoffs before finishing in eighth place in the final standings.
For this season, Ratcliff was assigned to lead JGR’s No. 18 Toyota Supra entry that has been piloted by Trevor Bayne, Drew Dollar, Connor Mosack, John Hunter Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Ryan Truex and Bubba Wallace. Through the first 16 events of 2022, Ratcliff has led the No. 18 team to a pole, four top-five results and seven top-10 results as they are situated in 10th place in the Xfinity owners’ standings. The No. 18 entry, which is coming off a 24th-place run at Road America with newcomer Sammy Smith, is set to be piloted by Ryan Truex for this upcoming weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Through 499 previous appearances, Ratcliff has achieved one championship, 55 victories, 33 poles, 167 top-five results and 266 top-10 results while working with 22 different competitors.
Ratcliff is scheduled to call his 200th Xfinity Series event as a crew chief at Atlanta on Saturday, July 9, with the event’s coverage to occur at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Wyatt Coffey (Beginner Bandits), Kaeden Ballos (Bandolero Outlaw), Joel Smith (Young Lions), also victorious in Round 5 of Cook Out Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Boston Reid & Company Pro and Masters division Round 5 features were postponed to next week due to lightning in the area.
Round 5’s fireworks show was canceled due to inclement-weather and rescheduled for Champions Night on Aug. 2. Spectators should save tickets from tonight for a discounted $5 admission on Aug. 2.
CONCORD, NC (July 5, 2022): While Mother Nature took the fireworks out of the sky, the drivers put a show on the track for Round 5 of the Cook Out Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway presented by Cabarrus Brewing. Connor Zilisch (VP Racing Semi-Pro division) and Darren Krantz Jr. (Bandolero Bandits) were among the drivers claiming stars and stripes victories one day after the Fourth of July.
Zilisch Outruns the Rain in the VP Racing Semi-Pro Competition
The VP Racing Semi-Pro feature showcased Trevor Wester’s speed as he led the competition for the first six laps until a restart gave Connor Zilisch room to take control. The second caution of the night gave the lead back to Wester who maintained it for five more trips around the frontstretch quarter-mile. On a third restart, Zilisch took the inside corner of turn two at lap 12 to pass Wester for good in a race to outrun the weather. Lightning in the area caused the race to be called at lap 19, giving Zilisch the win.
Krantz Jr Battles Bandolero Bandits for Second Win
In the Bandolero Bandits division, Hudson Canipe started at the front with an intense battle behind him among Ben Morabito, Darren Krantz Jr. and Beckham Malone. Canipe maintained his lead until lap 16 when Owen Zacharias blew a tire to bring out a yellow flag. Canipe and Morabito battled side by side after the restart before contact sent Canipe spinning sideways and out of contention. On the subsequent restart, Krantz Jr. passed Morabito for the lead off turn 4 on lap 18, then cruised to victory for his second Cook Out Summer Shootout win.
Krantz Jr. is now five for five in podium finishes at Charlotte Motor Speedway this summer including a first place win in Round 2.
Cook Out Summer Shootout fun continues with Round 6 on Tuesday, July 12. “Night of Games” at America’s Home for Racing will feature a full slate of fun and games with thrilling Legend Car and Bandolero action. Next week’s schedule will also include weather-postponed Boston Reid & Company Pro and Masters division features from tonight’s schedule.
TICKETS:
Cook Out Summer Shootout entry is $10 for adults and kids 12 and under are FREE. Tickets can be purchased at the gate, by calling 800-455-FANS or online at www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/tickets.
KEEP TRACK:
Follow all the thrilling Cook Out Summer Shootout action using the hashtag #WeCreateLegends. Connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Top 10 in each division of Tuesday’s races (unofficial results):
